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Victrola Barista Smackdown

We smacked it down last Friday night at V2 complete with a pretty healthy pot, sweet prizes, a stunning trophy and many many balloons. I’ve never seen our Vickies so focused yet foul-mouthed, so driven yet manic, so resolute yet fevered.

The evening began with the BYOV competition (Bring Your Own Vessel) into which lattes were poured – some beautiful, some a complete disaster but all entries were way above the genius level of creativity, if I do say so myself. We saw rosettes poured into the bell of a trumpet, a paper boat floating in a pool of crystal waters, and a latex glove. But Kelleen’s leafy creation swimming in a tin of smoked mussels took the prize. New signature drink idea? Only in the Northwest. Way to go, Kelleen!

Bragging rights were accrued by the winner of our prestigious Latte Art Competition. Chuck walked away with the pot for his designs – if this photo had audio, your speakers would blow. It’s amazing that any recognizable design was poured that night given all the screaming and the iced tea being drunk. Way to go, Chuck!

The toughest event to endure (mostly for participants), was the 3-Arm Barista Smackdown made up of teams of 2 tied together by the legs and using one hand each to build drinks at the Synesso. Vickies were graceful and efficient – not a drop of milk was spilled or rosetta botched. Well, maybe not – 4 teams competed complete with their own soundtracks only to succumb to the calm cool and collected stylings of the dream team: Mark and Kelleen.The trophy will spend every other month alternating between V1 and V2, going to mom’s on holidays and dad’s on weekends. Way to go Mark H. & Kelleen!

Thanks to Dan for hosting such a great party and to all Vickies for making the first SMKDWN a huge success, paving the way for many more to come.